Casino Chief’s Death Was a Homicide, Nevada Officials Say

The death six months ago of casino scion Lonnie “Ted” Binion was a homicide--not a self-induced drug overdose, authorities in Las Vegas announced Monday.

The circumstances of Binion’s death in September make it clear that the former casino executive did not take his own life or die accidentally, according to the coroner’s office and David Roger, chief deputy district attorney for Clark County.

Among other suspicious details, the heroin that killed Binion was swallowed and not smoked, the dead man’s long preferred method of ingesting the drug, authorities said.

But investigators conceded that they still cannot prove who forced a massive dose of heroin and Xanax into the 55-year-old Binion, who was well-known around Las Vegas for his wry stories, free spending and longtime drug addiction.

“This is a detailed case and there are lots of things that still must be done,” said Roger, who is leading the investigation. “Now that the coroner has determined it is homicide, we will be stepping up our efforts to serve justice in a timely manner.”

The official confirmation that Binion met with foul play confirms friends’ belief that the garrulous Binion had kicked his drug habit several years earlier and had no reason to take his own life.

Binion’s probate attorneys have previously cast suspicion on his live-in girlfriend, Sandra Murphy, and the Montana trucking contractor with whom she was allegedly having an affair. But authorities have filed no charges against Murphy, who met Binion while she was working in a topless bar, or the trucker, Rick Tabish.

Still, a continuing flow of news reports has left the two in the spotlight. Just two days after Binion’s death, Tabish and two other men were stopped by police in the dead of night as they removed a fortune in silver from an underground vault on Binion’s land. And investigators have detailed how Tabish and Murphy allegedly maintained close contact immediately before and after the Sept. 17 death.

Authorities last month searched Tabish’s home in Missoula, Mont., and Murphy’s Las Vegas apartment.

Tabish and Murphy’s defense attorneys said authorities are fishing for someone to blame for the death in a politically connected family. Innocent facts have been stretched to implicate Murphy and Tabish, they say.

“It’s amazing that, in what is supposed to be a secret grand jury case, they call a press conference and then admit they have nothing to prove how [Binion] actually was killed,” said David Chesnoff, Murphy’s attorney. “They have nothing of real substance.”